Life
by Rowan Arkenson
Summary: ch02Harry is miserbale. It's his seventh year and he has no idea what he wants to do with his life. Until one day when he embarks upon a journey with his friends to find out the truth, fate decides itself for him... abandoned
1. A Dream

Disclaimer: usual stuff - story mine but general idea and characters are JKs  
  
Chapter One A Dream  
  
'Harry! Come on Harry, your breakfast is getting cold.'  
  
Harry leaped out of the bed. It smelled like bacon. He sighed happily - he loved bacon.  
  
He ran into the kitchen and sat down quickly with a cheeky grin on his face.  
  
Lily smiled something. 'You're so lazy, Harry.'  
  
'Am not! I'm here, aren't I! Catherine's still in bed; she's the lazy one.'  
  
'Humph!' Lily snorted. 'You both take after your father.' She smiled at Harry fondly. 'He's still in bed!'  
  
'Oh my god! And it's already 8:15! How much lazier can you get!' exclaimed Harry laughing.  
  
Catherine walked in rubbing her eyes. 'What time is it?' she asked sleepily.  
  
'8:15,' laughed Harry.  
  
'Well, then what was all that shouting about?' she asked crossly.  
  
'Uh, Catherine, do you know what day it is today?' Catherine looked confused. Harry laughed. She had been going on and on about the first day back at Hogwarts, and now it seemed as if she had completely forgotten about being a witch at all.  
  
'Wha. What, day.oh!' she finally woke up and gasped. Then, she screamed.  
  
'Ow!' shouted Harry. His mother laughed.  
  
'Go on then Catherine, you'd better get ready for school!' Lily laughed. Catherine nodded excitedly and bounced back up the stairs.  
  
'So,' Lily said, turning to Harry. 'Anything you want to say to your mother before abandoning her again for another year?'  
  
Harry grinned and walked over to her. He hugged her. 'I'll be back next year.'  
  
'That's what I wanna hear,' she said.  
  
James Potter slumped down the stairs in his dressing gown. He stood in the kitchen doorway and yawned. 'So, are we getting rid of the kids today?'  
  
Lily laughed and walked over to him. 'Yep. finally. I wonder why we had them at all, they're such a pain.' Harry jumped up in protest. 'As soon as they're gone,' continued Lily, stroking James' hair, 'We'll be able to get ourselves more.shall I say, active?' James grinned at her and they kissed.  
  
'Er, hello?' Harry shouted in protest. 'Stop now, do more later.'  
  
James laughed and hugged Harry.  
  
'So, your seventh year at Hogwarts coming up, is it?' Harry nodded. 'God, and it's Catherine's fifth.'  
  
Lily sighed. 'James, it's her sixth year. She and Harry are only a year apart! Honestly. I forget why I even married you!'  
  
'Because Sirius bribed you into it.' James grinned. Lily laughed. Harry smiled happily.  
  
'They're growing up, aren't they?' Lily sighed.  
  
'Yep, we're gonna be able to turn you into slugs now!'  
  
'Hey,' said James defensively. 'That only happened once, and I told you, it was a mistake!'  
  
They all laughed and hugged.  
  
'I'm gonna miss you,' said Harry.  
  
'I know, we're gonna miss you too,' said Lily.  
  
James looked down on his son. 'We love you, son.'  
  
We love you, son. We love you, son. We love you, son.  
  
  
  
The words swirled round and round in Harry's head. He woke up to the sound of banging on his door. Harry's head hurt.  
  
'All right, all right. I'm up, I'm up.' The banging on his door ceased and Harry sat up in bed. He rubbed his face and felt his head. His forehead was hot and his palms were sweaty.  
  
Harry put his head in his hands. He felt dizzy.  
  
We love you son, we love you son, we love you son.  
  
Still the words went round in Harry's head. Great, this time, he had a sister. Who else would pop into his next dream? An uncle? On his father's side, of course.  
  
Harry enjoyed seeing his family in his dreams - the only problem was waking up. Harry felt guilty all of a sudden. He should be happy. It was his seventh and final year at Hogwarts; and he was Head Boy. He should be real happy. But he wasn't. He was miserable.  
  
Only during that summer he had finally begun to think about the after question that soon popped into everyone's heads. What will I do after my school years end at Hogwarts? What will happen to Voldemort? Will I ever see any of my friends again? More importantly, will I ever see my best friends again, Ron and Hermione? What are they gonna do? And, most importantly to Harry, what would mum and dad have wanted me to do?  
  
He heard banging on his door again. Petunia's voice came through the wood. 'Get up, Harry! You're gonna be late.'  
  
Harry smiled wryly. His Aunt and Uncle, and especially his cousin, were too obviously very anxious to get rid of him for another year.  
  
He got up, quickly put some clothes on, grabbed his trunk which he had packed the previous night, and rushed downstairs. Truthfully, although he was worried about his future, Harry couldn't wait to be rid of the Dursley's either.  
  
Harry grabbed some toast, and let Vernon push him into the car. They zoomed to the station, and arrived there with only five minutes to spare.  
  
'See you next year Harry!' said Vernon happily, as Harry was shoved onto the platform.  
  
The car whizzed off. 'Yeah, I had a great summer with you too, family,' mumbled Harry. 


	2. Voices

**Chapter Two**

**Voices**

Harry walked into the station glumly. The station was packed with muggles as usual. Harry walked up to the bar between Platforms 9 and 10. He ran into the barrier, and went into the Magical Platform, 9 ¾, where the red Hogwarts train was awaiting him.

He shoved his trunk into the train and then hurried in to find a compartment. Usually he seeked out to meet his friends first, but today he couldn't be bothered.

Harry stared at the window as the train began to set off. Into the magical journey to Hogwarts.

Harry was hoping for at least five minutes of peace, but, soon enough, his carriage was packed with Griffindors.

'Hi, Harry!' said Dean.

'Hi…'

'Harry, look at my new rat!' Neville walked up to him. 'He's called Henry! Trevor's at home, he doesn't feel well.'

'Oh, that's…'

'Hey, Harry, how about a kiss for your lovely girls, then?' that was Parvati. Leading a bunch of girls up to him. They loved teasing him.

'Um, I'm gonna…go…over, here…now,' stuttered Harry and backed off.

Suddenly a hand grabbed him and pulled him into an empty compartment.

'Hey, who's…' started Harry.

Ron and Hermione appeared ginning. For the first time that day, Harry laughed. 'Thanks, you guys,' he said. 'I was getting a bit claustrophobic in there!'

'Yeah, happened to us, as well!' laughed Hermione. 'But we managed to escape.'

'Yeah, seems everyone's just hyped up about this being our last year and everything,' Ron added.

Harry shuffled his feet. He hadn't needed that. Hermione glanced at Harry, and then gave Ron a meaningful look. Ron nodded and quickly and cleverly changed the subject.

'So, who wants some chocolate frogs? I have about fifty…' Ron stuffed his hands into his pockets and pulled out what was more likely to be a hundred chocolate frogs, onto the table.

Harry laughed again. Then he sighed. 'I've missed these.'

He looked at Ron and Hermione. 'You two still going out?' he grinned at them.

Ron hugged Hermione and kissed her. 'Yep. I love this girl. Can't take my hands off her!' Hermione just smiled.

Harry opened his chocolate frog and looked at his card. He was just about to stuff his mouth with chocolate as well, when decided against it, and sat down.

'You all right, Harry?' asked Ron nervously.

Harry's dizziness came back. He felt ill again. 'Yeah, I'm fine,' he lied. Ron and Hermione looked at each other and raise their eyebrows. Whenever Harry Potter said he was fine, he was lying.

Harry stared hard at his card. It was Dumbledore's. He studied the face closely. The Dumbledore on the card went slightly red and smiled. Harry shook his head and placed the card facedown on the table.

**_We love you son…_**

****

**_Have a nice summer, Harry…_**__

**_I will return…_**

****

**_See you next year, Harry! …_**

****

**_I love you, Harry…_**

Harry could hear a million voices in his head all at once. Ron and Hermione's, Voldemort's, his dad's, Dumbledore's…all swirling, swirling…

Harry's headache got worse. He clasped a hand to his head.

'Harry?' asked Hermione very worried.

'I…I'm fine…It's just…It's too loud…too loud…' murmured Harry, uncertain of what he was saying. The voices got louder and louder, and faster as well. Soon it was just noise. Then, Harry screamed aloud with pain, dropped to the floor, and blacked out.

*          *          *

When Harry woke up his headache had gone. He opened his eyes slowly. He was staring at a white ceiling. White. Huh, thought Harry. White. Interesting.

He sat up slowly and looked around him_. **"The Hospital Wing"**_ his brain told him. **_Huh,_** thought Harry again. A woman bustled over to him.

'Harry, are you ok? Lord, you've been in here more times than I have!'

Harry asked his brain who this woman was. **_"Madam Pomfrey, the Hospital Wing nurse",_**came the silent reply.

'Um, fine, thanks,' Harry lied.

Madam Pomfrey smiled. 'I'm sure you'd like to hurry along to the hall to see the sorting, but I'm afraid it's Professor Dumbledore's orders: You're to stay here for the night.' To Madam Pomfrey's surprise, Harry nodded gently with no protest at all, closed his eyes slowly, lay down again and fell back asleep. 

Harry woke up again. It was light. Light shone onto his eyes. He opened them and shaded his eyes with his arm. He waited for them to adjust to the light, and then removed his arm.

His head didn't hurt. And he didn't feel dizzy. But he still felt terrible. God, I can't do this, thought Harry. This time, it had been summer, and he, James, Lily and Catherine had gone out for a picnic. Together. Happy. Alive.

Harry rubbed his face and then shook his head crossly. **_Harry, shut up. Now get out of bed, get dressed and go to your lessons. That's what you need to do, you want to pass your exams. That's what Mum and Dad would've wanted. Stop moping and get up…NOW!_**

At this command, Harry dragged his feet out of the bed covers and pulled the curtain covering his bed across. He dresses into the clothes he'd been wearing on the train, which were piled neatly on a little stool next to his bed.

When he'd finished, he pulled the curtain back across and headed to the door.

'Harry!' called a voice from across the room. It was Pomfrey.

'Harry, are you sure you don't want another day of rest? I really think you should, just in case…'

'No, I'm fine, really.' Harry smiled his cheek grin with effort. Pomfrey gave in.

'That's the Harry I know,' she said smiling. 'Off you go, then. But be careful, and don't go getting too excited or anything, ok?'

Harry nodded and left the Hospital Wing. He turned left at a corridor, climbed up some stairs, and went into his common room, to find his robes.

Harry entered his Charms lesson. It was the second lesson. The first had been Potions, which he was _so_ sorry he'd missed! He walked in slowly, and all eyes turned to him. He walked up to Flitwick, mumbled something to him, and handed him a slip of paper that Pomfrey had given him.

Flitwick read the paper and nodded. 'Very well then,' he said in his squeaky voice. 'Go and sit yourself down, Potter. And welcome back.' Flitwick smiled at him and Harry just managed to smile back.

He walked somewhat wobbly to an empty desk next to Ron and Hermione.

Ron leaned over. 'Harry! Are you all right?'

'You really scared us there on the train,' said Hermione looking worried.

'We wanted to come and wait for you to wake up, you know, that way we could miss potions as well.' Ron grinned. 'But we weren't allowed.'

'Well,' started Harry, 'don't worry. I'm fine. I'd just got a bit dizzy, that's all. I'm fine, really.' Hermione and Ron didn't look so convinced. So Harry added a laugh. 'Hey, has anyone seen Draco yet? I can't wait to see him. Dudley's not as fun to torment as Malfoy is!' Ron and Hermione nodded in approval, and laughed with Harry.

a/n: hi sorry its been a while but I dint fink any one was reading this – well, whoever is, hope your enjoying it J sorry for any spelling mistakes; I wrote this a while ago and I cant be bothered to check it!!


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